westside-surfer

This movie was hella funny, along with good story and acting from the main stars. The rest of the cast was alright. Anyways, everyone wants to see this movie for Key and Peele, not some other actors nobody ever heard of. And they were super funny.

The kitten was an amazing actor, cute too. Too bad the kitten isn't there for most of the movie, because this is a kidnapping movie (catnapping?).

Keanu is basically an ultra-high quality Key and Peele skit. The violence is surprisingly strong, bullets blasting open chests and bloody chunks go everywhere.

Last night I picked another gem from my past, Crocodile DunDee, which released 1986. I remember watching this movie with mom. She absolutely loved DunDee and his rough and straightforward perspective on life. Now that I watch it years later, I see many similarities between Dundee and Mexican immigrant perspective.

Both perspectives cut the bullshit* and adopt a nihilistic sense of humor. Dundee was very happy in his homeland and left for USA, a strange place where his customs seemed just as alien to everyone else. In the movie's conclusion, as opposed to real life, the Americans embrace the well-meaning, friendly foreigner and take on some of his customs, such as greeting him by saying "G'day!"

Furthermore, the villain Richard (albeit a light villain) is presented as the a-hole not because he is DunDee's romantic rival, but because he openly mocks and belittles DunDee for being a foreigner and being unacquainted with western culture.

DunDee functions as the immigrant's fantasy existence, being accepted in America while retaining his cultural roots.

Only God Forgives is one of the best neo-noir films ever made. For a long time Sin City wore the crown for the genre. But compared to Only God Forgives, Sin City appears corny and mostly for kids.

The visuals grab you from the very beginning. It has a totally original style that's beautiful and mysterious. The director isn't afraid to dwell in the moment, establishing the thick Bangkok atmosphere. Long stretches of silence heighten the tension before it explodes in moments of extreme violence. The acting is amazing enough to require only a few lines of dialogue.

It's really disappointing that the IMDb community has underrated this film. Most of the negative reviewers are complaining that it doesn't have enough action. Don't people get tired of watching the countless predictable shot-em-up gangster movies? OFG is being punished for having originality. Maybe people were turned off by foreign actors that--for once--didn't play the role of noble savages like so many "magical negroes."

I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Taxi Driver or classic noir films. Also, the director dedicated this to the experimental film director Alejandro Jodorowsky, which tells you this movie has a psychedelic element. In the end OFG will divide audiences: on side side there's people who demand substance and innovation. On the other side are people who can't wait for the next Expendables movie.